Death In Albert Camus's The Plague

The people of Oran live a life of monotony and indifference to the problems of the people around them, so when they succumb to the wrath of the plague, they realize for the first time that their lives are indifferent to the world and that death may be around the corner. In Albert Camus’s The Plague, each character develops a different way of thinking that helps them to rationalize the plague. Rieux uses what he knows as a doctor as motivation to help the people suffering around him, while Father Paneloux uses his religion as a way to motivate others to turn to God in hopes of removing the plague from Oran. The author shows that religion becomes inconsequential during the plague, and that by praying to an omnipotent God, the people of Oran are …show more content…
Once the deaths from the plague start to increase, only then do the people truly realize their morality: “...therefore we tell ourselves that pestilence is a mere bogy of the mind, a bad dream that will pass away. But it doesn’t always pass away and, from one bad dream to another, it is men who pass away...”(Camus 37). The people have been trying to figure out why the plague has come to them, when in reality it has not chosen them, because the plague is indifferent to who they are. The plague is the first time that they are facing their rational existence and that at any time they may die. Many start to believe that the plague will not last and like a bad dream it will eventually depart, but the plague is also indifferent towards time. There is no set schedule for the plague to arrive and leave, it will take lives for as long as it wants. What is equally important is that the plague has also come for an enlightenment period: “...And that perhaps the day would come when, for the bane and the enlightening of men, it would rouse up its rats again and send them forth to die in a happy city”(Camus 308). The plague has not just revealed to the people that death is right around the corner, but it has also revealed that it is one’s job to make the most of one’s life. The people have a chance to change their lifestyles and to …show more content…
Religion, through this novel, is portrayed as a beam holding up its foundation, only to buckle under its weight and collapses to the ground. Today’s society is structured as the church being separate from the state, but religion still plays a big role in people's lives. Waking up each morning to find a new disaster ruining a family's life that begs the question, why pray? Only physical human support can help those people hurting. By stopping to pray, humans are doing less to help people than we should. What religion tells people is that by praying we can help people get through tragedies, but when in reality the only safeguard is human love and sympathy. While many will say that religion helps them understand that death is an important part of life, those people are the ones who are the most afraid of death. Those who believe that by getting on their knees and praying that it will help others just want to feel better about their own lives, when they are actually to scared to help their fellow man. The biggest contributing factor to their ineptness is not just their religion, but their fear of death. Death is constantly watching over and they pray to God for the death to stop. By understanding and coming to accept that death is a normal part of living, people can start to truly live. By denying death its grasp,